LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky Football team opens its season on Saturday at Noon when the Wildcats host Toledo.
Wildcats head coach, Mark Stoops, met with the media on Monday at his weekly press conference to talk about the upcoming game. "I'm excited to watch our whole team play," said Coach Stoops. "As coaches, I think you have an idea of who you are, what your team's going to look like. There's definitely a few more emotions with the first game because you really just want to get out there and play and see exactly what you have."
Kentucky is coming off a historic season with 10 wins and a victory in the Citrus Bowl over Penn State. Some might think there would be cause for concern about the players being too optimistic coming into its opener and thinking it can cruise to a win. "That's part of what they pay me for, get 'em ready to go," Coach Stoops said bringing laughter to from the media. "Handling the emotions, especially guys that haven't played much. Some of the older guys played a lot of football, understand that, know how to contain themselves. Guys that haven't played a lot, we're counting on them in large roles here this week. That is part of it, handling the opener."
The Wildcats take on a Toledo team that had a potent offense last season. The Rockets scored 50 or more points in six of their seven victories. They scored more than 60 in two of their games. So, you can expect the Rockets to take their shots at a young, inexperienced UK secondary. "I'm sure. I would think so. They do that anyway. They're aggressive," admitted Coach Stoops. "I don't think that's anything new for them. They want to mix it up. They mix in their shots anyway. Anybody scoring that amount of points."
Coach Stoops also announced that Kentucky will be without defensive lineman, Phil Hoskins, for the first two games of the season because of academic issues. And, linebacker, Xavier Peters, has still not gotten an answer from the NCAA regarding his appeal to play immediately this season after transferring from Florida State.
